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December 16, 2010

Last night I went out with friends to The Olive Garden and of course, my phone died. When I got home Brian was all a fluster. Eloise had a fever of 102°. He had given her acetaminophen but her temperature was still climbing. When I took it rectally it read 103.3° so I called the help hotline at the Med Center and spoke to a nurse who told me to give her a luke warm bath, Motrin and call the doctor in the morning.

"But when should I take her to the emergency room?" I asked. "If her temperature reaches above 105°."Above 105°?! That seems awfully high to me for a less than 1 year old.

Her temperature continued to climb to 104. I told myself if it got even close to 105° rectally I was taking her in, above be damned. Her head felt so hot! It was scary hot. I put a cold wash cloth on her head (which she resisted along with the luke warm bath) and laid with her taking her forehead temperature every five minutes. Thankfully through the night it returned to normal with the help of the motrin. So I'll be taking her in to the pediatrician's office this morning for the doctor to take a look at her.

Which is why I might not get a post up today. But I think the blogosphere will understand. My little Eloise needs to be coddled and given all my attention.

This summer my little guy woke up with 104.9 degree fever. I wasn't home and my DH called me frantic because I had the car and was almost an hour away. When we called the doctor, they said the same thing. We did the lukewarm bath and the motrin and within an hour, everything was pretty much normal. It was so scary! I hope your little one recovers as fast as mine did.

How scary! One thing to remember though is that babies can have a temperature higher than a grownup without worrying too much, as long as it's not sustained (like 104.5 for half an hour is all right, but if it won't go down you need to see a doc). My kids used to spike such high fevers and I would get so worried, but it always came back down. I hope she feels better soon, and I hope you can find some peace of mind. Take care.

My son did that once - and it freaked me out! Those high fevers are scary. My doctor had me give him Tylenol and Motrin at the same time and it came down - never knew you could give them both, although I think that's an emergency only kind of thing.

Hope she is feeling better soon! This happened once with my son just after he turned one, we were also told to wait until it was over 105 which is so crazy. It's bizarre how hot they feel. We learned to never give acetaminophen for his fevers, it makes them get worse. It also has this effect on some of my adult family members, which I later found out. Motrin is THE BEST.

Poor Eloise! I hope she feels better soon. Definitely understand that she needs mama right now!!

I've always been told that a rectal temp is about 1 degree higher than the actual body temp, so if it reads 103, she's probably closer to 102. I know not much help for a worrying mom, been there lots of times. Also, I noticed often my kids' temps would rise at night and be lower during the day. And I was always taught with a high fever to alternate tylenol and motrin to bring it down. You can give motrin, 2 hours later give tylenol, 2 hours later motrin again, etc. It does help a lot with those high temps.

Hope you all get some much needed rest today and this passes quickly!!!

Poor sweetie pie, hope she feels better. Yep, as the mother of many, fevers are frightening and I was told the same thing, though I did fly to the ER my first go-round. Take care of your baby first and we'll hear from you soon.

I took her to the doctor who said she showed signs of a sore throat and that if her fever didn't go down by Saturday to bring her back in.

They said the only other thing it could possibly be is a UTI but catheterizing an infant is not a fun thing so unless the fever is constant they would wait to rule that out.

But I think with the sore throat it's probably more of an infection sort of thing.

They didn't give me any antibiotics which I wish they had. I've noticed that they've been really hesitant to prescribe them nowadays. They used to hand them out at the first sign of anything. It's hard to not rely on it as much. I always felt like I had more piece of mind when I give them something.

It's so scary when your baby gets sick, especially with a high fever. Had a similar issue with my son a couple months ago--I felt like I was on high alert, with a pounding heart the whole time! One thing that I learned from the Dr. was that the baby's demeanor was almost (ALMOST) more important than the number on the thermometer. If the baby was like a "rag doll" and completely lethargic---head to the ER. Thankfully my little guy was playing, etc. I hope your little one is too and gets over this really fast. Better this week, than next!

personally i am the type of mom who will not give meds to my kids unless extra necessary but i have consulted many docs and homeopathic docs as well and they all tell me the same."Fever is good as long as it is not spiking too fast and stay high for too long. You body needs to get at least 102F to kill the virus that is attacking it"My older daughter had a 102F fever recently, and i didn't give her any Tylenol. i believe your body knows what to do and it is doing what it suppose to so why fight it with meds BUT i do worry too, just like every mom. i touched her forehead every 2 min., took temp. every 5 min. worrying that it will go too high too fast and she will have a seizure. i make sure to keep them hydrated, and if their forehead is too hot to my touch i do the "wet cloth" but one thing i have recently tried out and it did wonders was a WARM EPSOM SALT BATH.!!! Like i said, i didn't give her Tylenol and i wanted to do something that will work without diminishing her immune system so we did the bath and the fever was way lower (about 100F) within 30 minutes and gone by 1 hour tops. Epsom salt baths supposed to DRAW OUT the fever from your body in a very natural way. Crazy! who knew. :)

Its a good thing you were on top of it. My daughter had a fever of about 103 one night, but she didn't feel anywhere near that hot, I figured our thermometer needed batteries. I gave her motrin and put her to bed, only to wake up to her throwing up because she had a seizure due to the high fever and her body not reacting correctly. SCARY!!! Now I always tell my friends, do NOT put them down if their fever is high, stay with them until it lowers itself.I'm glad your sweet baby is okay!

I just read your response about her having a sore throat, usually when they get a fever it is a sign of the body fighting a virus. My daughter's fever was due to her fighting off ear infections. We knew something was going on with her, but she was showing all signs of teething, which she has a hard time with, we figured it was that. We took her to the ER in the ambulance because we didn't actually see her have a seizure, we just knew she had thrown up and was very lethargic and un-responsive to us. It was the scariest thing in the world to see her so un-responsive to us. I thought she was dying! They ended up putting a catheter in to test her, and IV's for antibiotics and fluids. It was the worst night of my life, seeing her be poked and get a catheter... especially since she is 1. They say this is common, for them to have a seizure due to fevers, and that she won't have any long or short term affects because of it. Needless to say she slept in my bed for a few nights, and I am sure next time she has a fever she will be sleeping with me again :)

This is so scary when it is the first time it happens to your child. I have a little girl who is SO febrile (prone to high fevers). Try alternating Motrin and Tylenol - Motrin at 2 hours, then Tylenol, then Motrin, etc. Also, do lukewarm baths, strip off the clothing (leave on diapers and socks), put a cool, damp cloth on their forehead, and you can rub their chest with rubbing alcohol to bring the fevers down a bit, too. It's scary, but I wish you luck. We're pros now at fevers here. I hope you never have to be. :)

My daugther had several UTI during her first months and I knwo how freaking it is when fever soars one evening unexpectedly. But waiting until 105 is reached....really? It seems quite high for so little a body to cope with. I hope she's better now. Take good care of her.

Oh poor thing! Our kids always get really high fevers when they're sick. Up to 104 and 105. I've learned that they break much more quickly if I don't treat them with Tylenol or Motrin. I only give them meds when they are having trouble sleeping (as long as everything else is alright).

I hope she feels better soon and that it's not the flu or anything like that. Keep us updated!

So sorry Wheezy is sick. I didn't know. If you need to reschedule tomorrow let me know.Also I don't know if pediatricians still give this advice but when my kids were little they told me that if you took a rectal temp you were actually supposed to deduct one full degree before determining what the actual temp was. Example would be that 103 would really be 102. Also the younger you are the less harm a high fever can do to you. As a Mom I know this may not be comforting and who knows maybe I was given bad information or maybe the medical field has changed their opinions as they often do. Brass tacks- Love you guys and hope that everything is better soon:)

It is a scary thing... my three just this past week were ALL struck with fever... 103-104.7 at their highest... but they were all resting well and looked ok for being so hot... our hospitals turn away fever sufferers at anything less than 105.... wishing her a VERY swift recovery...

I am a physician and yes it is getting very hard to get them to give you an antibiotic thanks to people who think they can make a life saving by suing a Dr whenever their child gets soemthing like a rash from an drug Rx by a Dr.I get fraustrated myself trying to get anyone to rx me or my son any medicine.

Ok, I'm a pediatric RN and work on an infant medical floor. We do fevers all the time. Just had to say these few things, some comments had me a bit worried.

Motrin is ONLY for kiddos over 6 months old. It's processed through the kidneys and the liver is too immature under 6 months old. Even then, you should ask your MD before you give it for the first time in their life. You can ONLY give every 6 hours.

Tylenol is processed through the liver and is first line defense for wee ones, although Motrin does work better in some kiddos. You can give Tylenol ONLY every 4 hours.

Do NOT cheat and give these doses early, you do not want to overload their kidneys/livers. Trust me. Bad news.

Kiddo's do handle really high temps MUCH better than adults and kids will always spike up higher than adults will. It's the body's natural way of fighting infection and we usually only treat it unless it's super high, as in the 104/105's or the child is uncomfortable. If they are happy and febrile, leave em be, unless your MD says otherwise.

The only time that is different is for kiddos less than 60 days old. If they have a fever over 100.4 rectally, you need to take them in and get them checked out, ALWAYS.

Febrile seizures usually happen to smaller kids (less than 4-5 years old) and can happen with any level of temp, not just high ones. It really depends more on the kiddo's seizure threshold than it does that actual temperature. Lowering the temp with Tylenol/Motrin has not been shown in research to prevent febrile seizures. You could give Tylenol, the temp could go down and the infection they still have could trigger the seizure anyway. There really is no good way to prevent them...good thing is, they are not usually serious, but do need a trip to the ER to get checked out.

Ok, sorry if that was too much, but I hope this helps! I so hope Miss Eloise is feeling better. Being sick stinks!

P.S. - I've never heard of subtracting a degree from a rectal temp. We don't do that at our hospital. We consider rectals to be the most accurate temp reading, we do rectals on ALL kiddos unable to do an oral temp as axillary temps are VERY unreliable and differ from their real temp up to two degrees.

I don't know if you'll even be reading these comments, but this week my daughter had a cough then a fever for 4 days. 1 night it was 103.7 underarm (approx 104.9 rectally) so I gave her Tylenol (she had thrown up the ibuprofen the night before). After 1 hr and a call to the advice nurse I tried the bath and cold drinks, still nothing. It went up to 104.2 (over 105 rectally) and the advice nurse told me to take her to the ER, as it was 4 a.m. After an ER visit, where they gave her ibuprofen (yeah), chest x-rays, blood draw, and urine test (all clear) they told me what I already knew. She has a virus. I should have just given her the ibuprofen...So now we have $$ medical bills to look forward to since we have a 10k deductible. This virus seems to be going around, and my takeaway for myself is next time I'll use the ibuprofen, it's better than needlessly exposing her to whatever sickness is going around the ER, radiation from x-rays and subjection to a blood draw. Hope your Eloise is well soon...

I think it's really awfull for you, here in France no matter how much fever your kid have, you can always go to the ER and are welcome there, they help you, explain you what to do, and for free...And I know how much it can help a mother to feel well too

We JUST got over this same thing. My 22 mo old had a fever of 104.5 saturday, FREAKED ME OUT. Dr. said the same thing about it being over 105. And Motrin worked faster and better than Tylenol for us too. We ended up alternating Tylenol with Motrin till the fever was gone. It took a total of 4 days, which was torture for all of us! Hope your little girl feels better soon!!

Kristen,Thanks for all the info! She is 11 months old so I feel ok about giving her the motrin. I only give it every 6 hours and I give her the tylenol every nine hours between the motrin.

She didn't have a fever this morning but it spiked to 103.4 last night again and I have a feeling it's going to do the same thing tonight.

But I had heard a similar warning from my doctor about the motrin. Although she only mentioned it being hard on their stomach. At any rate, I do it every 6 hours. If she doesn't have a fever at 2:30 today I'm going to hold off on it.

Oh MAN! I experienced that with my 16 month old on Monday night-103.7, I just despise that helpless feeling, especially if they're teetering close to 105. Thankfully mine is also still nursing and I was able to continue to get liquids into him. My husband has always told me to give both acetaminophen and ibuprofren because they work in different ways to bring down a fever together. I hope she's doing better!